The team is definitely into its groove. We get up and get breakfast between 6:30 and 8:00 am, get the van loaded with luggage from 8:00 to 8:30, have a quick briefing and get everyone on the road at 8:30. I have definitely noticed everyone is on time and organized. The van drivers are also in a groove. Rich drives the van about 25 miles up and parks at a good location to set up the rest stop (he opens the back of the van :) ) and waits for riders to arrive. When the last one arrives, he moves to the next stop which is usually lunch. Hanna and Mellisa have done a great job for lunches. They find nice parks where we meet up and refuel. Everyone helps pack up and we are on the road again. This goes one three or four times during the day until we get home. Then everyone checks into the hotel, puts their cycling gear in the laundry bag and gets cleaned up. We have a mandatory team meeting at 7 PM to discuss the events of the day, plans for dinner and info for tomorrow. We are definitely in the groove.
That's good because the monotony of the ride will set in over the next 4 days. While everyone loves to cycle, during an 8 day ride eventually you get tired of doing the same thing every day (read above) and just want to get to the end. You are getting physically worn down and it takes alot of mental focus to keep going. For the riders that have not done a multi day tour as long as this it will test their abilities greatly. It is this test however when you learn most about yourself, your ability to achieve more than you though you were capable of and you develop most.
Today was our longest day yet but is was a great ride. The new riders got a sense of challenges that lie ahead. We still have about 450 miles to go and there are two challenging days ahead with lots of climbing. The ride was mostly flat with some short hills to get up. The weather was awesome, around 75 all day with little wind or the wind at our back. The ride was mostly through farmland and small communities or around really neat forests and lakes. Probably one of the best riding days I have ever been on!. There wasn't much drama today other than the long day that took its toll on many of the riders. Moiz got his bike fixes in Port Townsend and was back on the road before lunch. The riders arrived at the hotel between 4:30 and 6:30 PM and it was neat to see that almost all of them made it on their own power.
The ride had a number of flat roads that were newly paved with the wind at your back so it made for a fast ride. During the tour riders naturally group up with riders of similar ability. I was in a group of three other riders, Randi Rosen, Jeff Waybright and Fred Isaak and we got it a nice pace. When riding in a group, the riders can go faster that each individual rider so long as they team well. The riders get into whats called a paceline. You have to ride very close to the rider in front of you (6 to 12 inches). The rider at the front of the paceline breaks the wind and does most of the work for the benefit of the riders behind him. After a short period of time, the front rider peels off and coasts to the rear of the line and a new leader drives the team. Its amazing the increase in efficiency the team has when working together. A majority of a bikers energy goes to overcome wind resistance. My heart rate proves the point. When I am at the front of the line my heart rate is around 150 to 160 beats per minute. I can sustain that for a long time but not 7 hours. When I am behind the leader my heart rate drops to around 125 to 135 which is about a 20 percent decline. That means that the lead rider is working 20 percent harder then the followers.
It takes a lot of communication and teamwork however. Since you are riding right behind the leader, you cant see the road in front of you. You are depending on the lead rider to keep everyone safe, call out road obstacles, keep the line steady etc. The followers have to keep a consistent even pace so the riders behind don't kiss tires and crash. Our paceline worked great today.
Pacelines are a great lesson in teamwork that carries over into our worklives. Everyone has a role on a team, roles can and do change often, it requires alot of communication, and you have to be willing to put alot of effort into the team to make is succeed.
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